KM Patriots stun Crest, earn title shot next week

The Kings Mountain Patriots served notice on the opening kickoff they had come to play.

On a pooch kick, Darius McClain’s hit separated a Crest player from the football and Kings Mountain recovered, scoring a touchdown two plays later.

“That set the tone,” said Kings Mountain coach Tim Gunn.

The Patriots then controlled time of possession and field position in defeating the previously unbeaten Dragons, 14-8, in the first round of the Tri-County Conference playoffs at Sid Bryson Stadium.

Kings Mountain (5-2) will now face rival Shelby in the league title game next Wednesday.

A Crest team that seemingly scored at will this season found itself stymied by a Patriot team that broke quickly to the football.

“We gave up that first big play on defense,” said Gunn, “and that woke us up. They are a lot like us in that they have a lot of people playing both ways and when you can keep the football, they say you don’t move as fast on defense. Our guys really stepped up for us.”

Darren Burns’ 15-yard scoring pass to Kavin Mosley put the Patriots up 6-0 in the opening minutes. Crest struck back quickly when Tavian Brintley sprinted 52 yards on an end sweep to the right, then Casual Morris’ two-point run put the Dragons up 8-6.

That was all the scoring until the fourth period. The Patriots had the football all but three plays in the third quarter, contributing to the fatigue level for Crest.

When Austin Goins and a slew of Kings Mountain defenders broke through to block a punt and get the football at the Crest 2 with 5:32 left, the Patriots capitalized. Jacob Merchant punched in from the one, then a two-point run by McClain pushed the lead to 14-8 with 4:20 to play.

Crest drove to the Patriots’ 36 but a long throw was picked off by Mosley with 2:36 showing. McClain then ran for a first down to let Kings Mountain kill the clock.

“I’ve been at Kings Mountain 10 years and I can’t remember the last time we beat Crest,” said Gunn, “maybe the first year I was here. To come here in the playoffs against a well-coached, undefeated team, that’s big for us. But we’ve got one more to go now.”